WESTON - It can be easy to take healthy teeth and a healthy smile for granted.

But for many kids in north-central Wisconsin, visiting the dentist is rare.

The annual Give Kids a Smile Day wants to help change that.

Six offices in the viewing area opened their doors for free dental services Friday, including a few dentists in the Wausau area.

"There's people out there that don't have opportunities or access to care, and it's important that we give them those opportunities when we can," says Dr. Alan Domeyer, one of the participating dentists.

"As young kids, it's important to get them involved in their dental health as soon as you possibly can, because if they start now, they'll continue those good habits into the future," says Dr. Julie Graf.

This is the 11th year of the program.

More than 10,000 dentists across the country offered free services to kids today.

They saw a broad range of patients.

"We're seeing kids that have no cavities at all, and we're seeing kids that have cavities in every tooth, so we've seen the full range of them today," says Domeyer.

"What's hard is that, for some of those kids, you can't fix all of them, so you just hope they can get it somewhere else, once today's over," says Graf.

About 75 children were welcomed for dental care Friday in the Wausau area alone.

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